I could’ve easily come with her lips pressed against it, but I didn’t want to step out of the car with a damn wet spot in my crotch.
Didn’t need the stares from others, but it was damn hard to walk around with a rigid dick caused by Vespyr.
“Don’t worry about it,” I whispered, squeezing her thigh before turning my head to Sitka who was staring at me.
“And you keep that drooling mouth shut, understand?” I hissed.
Sitka whined, almost as if she was jealous of what I had done to Ves.
She wanted the same attention, but as sick as I was, I would never pleasure a damn animal like some fucked up people did.
*
“Oh, my sweet boy,” Mama cried as I got out of the car following Vespyr, and I let her hug me and squeeze me tightly.
I put my arms around her and rubbed her back, kissing her cheek to greet her.
“Hey, Mama. Don’t cry. I’m fine,” I told her, knowing she had always been worried about my health.
Mental health, the voices added, making me roll my eyes.
“It’s been so long,” she sighed, taking a small step back and cupping my face gently. “How have you been? You look different. My boy…you’ve grown so much.”
“I know. A few inches,” I told her proudly.
I was much taller than her, and even Vespyr surpassed her in height.
At almost five-foot-nine, Vespyr had always been taller than most girls in school, and maybe that was one reason why they disliked her so much.
Vespyr had beautiful long legs and all around a nice body and face.
And although I knew it was hurting her feelings that no guy wanted to date her in high school, I was happy they didn’t.
Vespyr was mine, and I wouldn’t have accepted anyone else touching her.
“How are you holding up, Mama?”
“Oh, I’m just fine. But I have a lot to tell you guys.” She smiled, then looked past me to see Papa walking toward us, and when he reached us, I stepped aside to let him greet her.
“So good to see you again, Judd,” Mama said.
They kissed, and I turned to look at Jason who was setting down our duffle bag next to the front door.
I nodded at him as I realized Mama and Papa would be occupied for a while, and after he nodded back, he told Sitka to get in the car so they could drive home.
“They missed each other,” Vespyr whispered next to me.
“Yeah, they sure did. I missed her too.”
She leaned against me as we watched them enjoy an intimate moment in front of the house we grew up in, and once they woke from their trance, they turned to look at us, both smiling.
“It’s so good to have you all home again. Vespyr, sweetie. You look pretty,” Mama told her, making her smile.
Ves stepped closer to her to give Mama a hug, and while they talked, Papa and I went inside with the duffle bag.
“Missed this place. You’re planning on spending New Year’s here too, right?” I asked, trying to get the conversation going.
“Now that we’re here, I don’t think she’ll let us leave anytime soon. Not sure I wanna go around town though.”
That was the end of our conversation since neither of us made an effort to keep it going.
I walked over to my bedroom to find it the way I left it two years ago.
I loved this place because of the memories I had made, but the forest would always be my home.
“I didn’t touch a thing. I just go over and clean your bedrooms once a week,” Mama assured, standing behind me.
I turned and smiled at her. “Thank you, Mama. Happy to be back for a few weeks.”
She smiled and placed her hand on my back, leaning against me before pointing toward my bed.
“I found this box downstairs and thought you might wanna look through it and see if there’s anything you’d like to take with you when you leave. Just some toys and drawings.”
I nodded, looking at the box with my name written on it in thick, black letters.
“I’ll look through my stuff later tonight. Anything I can help you with?” I asked.
“I was thinking of having dinner at Brian’s tonight. How does that sound?”
Papa immediately stopped going through the duffle bag to get his few clothes out, and we turned to look at him to see what his response was going to be.
“Tonight? Already?”
“I know there won’t be too many people, Judd. It’s just dinner, and after that, we’ll head back home,” Mama said hopefully.
Papa let out a heavy sigh and looked down at the clothes in his hands, then sighed again before gazing back up at us.
“All right. Just dinner.”
I smiled at Mama, knowing how happy it made her to go out as a family again.
It’s what she missed most.
Living out there with us would’ve been the easiest solution for her not to be lonely, but this is what she chose and we couldn’t make her come live with us.
“I’ll go check on Vespyr. What time do you wanna leave?”
“I was thinking around six. You have enough time to get comfortable in this house again. It feels better with you all here.”
“I know, Mama.” I kissed her head, then walked across the living room to get to Vespyr’s room.
She was sitting on the bed, just staring blankly at her wall covered in pictures.
“Hey, you okay?” I asked, sitting down next to her and placing my hand on her thigh. “Mama’s taking us to dinner later. At Brian’s.”
“I heard. I don’t really feel like going.”
Just like Papa.
They were exactly the same.
“But you gotta eat something, don’t you? I’m sure Brian’s got some delicious stuff on the menu, especially now that it’s close to Christmas.”
“Yeah, I’m sure,” she replied, her smile tight and not reaching her eyes.
“Hey, I’ll be right there. If it’s because of people staring, embrace it. They’re jealous of what we made out of our lives, so they can judge all they want but they damn well know we’re better off out there than here.”
“I know,” she said, trying not to sound affected by her worries.
“Get those stupid thoughts out of your head, sweet girl. We’ll have a great evening eating dinner with Mama and then we’ll spend the night together. Just us two, watching a movie and snacking on things we can’t have in the forest. How does that sound?”
Her smile grew and her worries vanished slowly, then she nodded and placed her hand over mine. “Sounds perfect. But I choose the movie.”
I laughed and kissed her temple. “No way. That’s my task.”
20
There weren’t many people at the diner, but the ones that were, weren’t ones I wanted to come across tonight.
I tried to look away and not give them anything to stare at, but with the clothes we were wearing, it was easy for them to keep their eyes on us.
I’ve never liked wearing jeans, and it seemed Papa’s and my corduroy overalls didn’t fit in with the rest of the people’s outfits in here.
And there I was thinking corduroy made a comeback.
I liked it, and although I never cared much about what others thought of my clothes, it was hard ignoring their stares.